Using a wiki to write a book
This May, I’ll be heading to Vancouver, British Columbia to attend the DocTrain West 2008 conference (I’ll also be participating in a panel on blogging there).
I’ve been going through the program for the conference, trying to pinpoint some sessions to attend. One of the sessions that caught my eye is titled How an Author and Editor Used a Wiki to Write a Book. The session will discuss how:
Using a wiki can improve the existing publishing process by reducing reliance on email and documents, making the process more fluid and collaborative, and better tracking progress as the chapters are written.
I’ve thought about this quite a bit in the past, but I never tried to follow through — even when I regularly used a wiki. My main concern was getting editors to buy into using a wiki to collaborate. A lot of them, to tell the truth, are more comfortable using word processor or text files.
There have only been two situations when I’ve been able to convince an editor or client to use an online collaboration tool — I discussed that here. The other times I tried, the people I was working with dug in their heels. Since they were paying me, I decided to let the matter go.
Have you been able to convince an editor or publisher to work with you using a tool like a wiki or even Writeboard or Google Docs? If so, please leave a comment.
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